User blog:The Sapphire Panda/The Hunt for Thalassa
Recently and for a long time now, rumors have been circulating around the wiki. One of these many rumors is that a wiki user claimed to have found a depiction of Thalassa, the Sea Goddess in the 8th Dark Parables game, somewhere in the 5th Dark Parables game. This blog post will be a compilation of my comprehensive analysis of this claim, its origins, debunking possibilities, and coming a closed verdict. So, that being said, I am the Sapphire Panda and I will lead this investigation today. Before I start, I'd also like to say that if you have additional information or counterclaims to the case I present here, please tell me in the comments below, along with images of your findings (if necessary). Section One: The Origins A while back, I saw a comment on the page titled The Final Cinderella, one of the fourteen game pages we have on the wiki to organize the plot and opinions on a specific game. Anyway, I saw a comment that caught my eye: To which I responded "No, I don't think she's in this game." But then... So, naturally, that raised a few questions. How could she be in this game? Did Eipix find this small detail and somehow use it for the plot of one of their games? It couldn't be. I scrolled up to the Connections section of the page. The detail has since been removed, but at the time it said something along the lines of "Thalassa is depicted in a minigame in this game, hinting to her reveal in The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide". I was dumbfounded. How could two people notice something that was seemingly impossible and so unlikely, something I hadn't even noticed before? The notion was crazy. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. Let me explain something before we continue. Why is it so preposterous to think a character is foreshadowed in a game before their debut, you ask? Well, think about it. This game has no connection to mermaids -- no water or water-related creatures of any kind. Then, Eipix picked up the series after game seven, which means they most likely wouldn't have noticed such a minute detail (and clearly it is minute since it's gone unconfirmed for so long). Though Eipix may have taken a hint from the Grecian wall designs in DP2 for the Greek island of Crete in DP8, I just don't see the inclusion of Thalassa, a major plot point, being hinted at three games beforehand. Anyway, the thought was pushed to the back of my mind. I kept seeing random comments come up here and there about this rumor -- with so many people claiming the same thing, could it be true? Most comments are lost to me, but here are two I found: At this point, it can't be a coincidence. I just HAVE to check it out. So, today, I decided to play The Final Cinderella once more to at last put a close to this case. I've analyzed every mini game, every FROG scene, and every art scene in the entire game. Below are my findings and studies. Section Two: The Results This will be done by chapter in the main game so you can easily locate the clues for yourself. *'Chapter One' In the cutscene where the Detective is flipping through her journal, one of the photos of a Glass Maiden resembles Thalassa, especially the hair and the facial features. The dress is a light blue, but this is just a normal girl. In the clock puzzle to reach the main ballroom, the one with the five glass slipper emblems you have to click, there is a panel with four squares near the screen's bottom. There are five different images you can find here: an apple (Snow White), a swan (Odette), a rose (Briar Rose, related to Ivy), a glass slipper (Agnes Koch), and a mermaid (Naida). See the pattern of the pictures? Though there is a mermaid, which could be mistaken for a depiction of Thalassa, this is most likely just fitting with the pattern of pictures that fit James's wives. The mermaid has as much story significance as the swan does: just an image referencing known information. In the room where Godmother destroys the three dresses (Agnes Koch closet room), FROG scene there has a small metal statuette off to the left of the image. The figurine is of a woman surrounded in watery fabric and looks angelic. *'Chapter Two' There is a fountain with three female statues. They all deal with water, but none of them resemble Thalassa, so this can't be it. This is the puzzle I *think* everyone has been misinterpreting the most: the Cinderella World puzzle where you have to arrange the Cinderellas properly. When they are arranged properly, an image of a woman will appear at the top of the screen. She has brown hair and a blue dress, adorned with gold and has her hands out. You may think this is Thalassa, but trust me: it's just an edited image of Agnes Koch kissing the Frog Prince. Her hands are outstretched the same way, her dress is similar... it all fits. In the puzzle it represents the Maiden Goddess watching over all her handmaidens and pure Cinderellas, NOT the Sea Goddess watching over everyone. *'Chapters Three, Four, and Five' Chapters three and four have nothing of note, just the ocassional female figurine here and there. Chapter five has many carvings of women in Pinocchio's cottage, but none of them resemble the Sea Goddess. *'Chapter Six' There is a vial of Goddess's Tears that you use to create an orb. Though these could be Thalassa's tears, they're most likely the Maiden Goddess's because of her ties to Cinderellas and magic. *'Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight' There are no depictions of women or sea-related objects. *'Chapter Nine' One of the morphing objects, the archway above the ruins entrance, has a woman surrounded by pink flowers. If anything, this is a reference to Flora, not Thalassa, but that's very unlikely. To enter the Maiden Goddess's temple, you have to play a puzzle. There are carvings at the top of the screen, but none of them feature water. There are also two small statues of women at the top as well. They might be carrying water jugs, but even if they are, neither of them are chained and neither of them resemble Thalassa. All depictions of goddesses in the Maiden Goddess's temple represent her, NOT Thalassa. *'Chapter Ten and Bonus Materials' No images or anything close to a depiction of the goddess. The bonus game has no mention or depiction of her either. Section Three: Conclusion and Final Thoughts So, as we can see in the evidence above, '''there is no depiction, mention, or representation of Thalassa, the Sea Goddess, in Dark Parables: The Final Cinderella. '''She's not shown in any of the minigames, never depicted anywhere, and never snuck in as a small statuette. That leaves us with two questions: How did these rumors start, and how did the confusion keep up to this day? Personally, I think someone played the Cinderella globe minigame and mistook the goddess at the end for the Sea Goddess. The blue dress and the hair threw someone off, so they thought it was the Sea Goddess. They decided to add it to the wiki, and eventually more and more people began to read it and think, "Hey, I've seen that goddess somewhere in this game! I just can't remember where...". So, comments like the ones above start to show up, making more and more people believe it. However, she just isn't in the game. And this isn't a statement of bias against the goddess. Believe me, I wish she were in the game as a subtle teaser or nod to the 8th game, but she isn't. Another possibility is that someone played the minigame to enter the Prasino Temple in the 8th game and confused it with the ballroom entrance puzzle in the 5th game as well. The two are fairly similar: cartoonish characters, a custom puzzle with lots of things to interact with, and a door that's opened afterwards. So, that's my conclusion. She just isn't in the game. If you have any thoughts to add or new evidence comes to light, please comment below with an image if it's necesssary. Until then, I'll see you all later! Category:Blog posts